is the 34th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. There are 331 days remaining, (332 in leap years).

In the Northern hemisphere, there are 88 days in winter (in a non-leap year). We are considered halfway through winter on .

Events

• 1377 - more than 2,000 people of the Italian city of Cesena are slaughtered by Papal Troops (Cesena Bloodbath).
• 1451 - Sultan Mehmed II inherits the throne of the Ottoman Empire.
• 1488 - Bartolomeu Dias of Portugal lands in Mossel Bay after rounding the Cape of Good Hope at the tip of Africa, becoming the first known European to travel this far south.
• 1690 - The colony of Massachusetts issues the first paper money in America.
• 1783 - American Revolutionary War: Spain recognizes United States independence.
• 1787 - Shays' Rebellion is crushed, ending an uprising that would prompt negotiations that would result in the drafting of the Constitution of the United States.
• 1809 - Illinois Territory is created.
• 1815 - The first commercial cheese factory is founded (Switzerland).
• 1834 - The Baptist State Convention of North Carolina establishes the Wake Forest Manual Labor Institute, today known as Wake Forest University.
• 1867 - Prince Mutsuhito becomes Emperor Meiji of Japan.
• 1870 - The 15th Amendment to the United States Constitution is passed.
• 1900 - Gubernatorial candidate William Goebel is assassinated in Frankfort, Kentucky. Former Secretary of State Caleb Powers was later found guilty in a conspiracy to kill Goebel.
• 1913 - The 16th Amendment to the United States Constitution is ratified, authorizing the Federal government to impose and collect income tax.
• 1916 - Parliament buildings in Ottawa, Canada burn down.
• 1917 - World War I: The United States breaks off diplomatic relations with Germany a day after Germany announces a new policy of unrestricted submarine warfare.
• 1918 - The Twin Peaks Tunnel begins service as the longest streetcar tunnel in the world at 11,920 feet (3,633 meters) long).
• 1931 - The Napier earthquake, New Zealand's worst natural disaster, kills 258.
• 1941 - World War II: The Nazis forcibly restore Pierre Laval to office in occupied Vichy, France.
• 1944 - United States troops capture the Marshall Islands.
• 1945 - World War II: Soviet Union agrees to enter the Pacific Theatre conflict against Japan.
• 1947 - Percival Prattis becomes the first African American news correspondent allowed in the United States House and Senate press gallery.
• 1947 - Coldest ever temperature recorded in North America at Snag, Yukon, -63 degrees Celsius
• 1952 - The earliest known tropical storm makes landfall in South Florida.
• 1957 - Senegalese political party Democratic Rally merges into the Senegalese Party of Socialist Action (PSAS).
• 1959 - The Day The Music Died: A plane crash kills rock-and-roll performers Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, and The Big Bopper.
• 1966 - The unmanned Soviet Luna 9 spacecraft makes the first controlled rocket-assisted landing on the Moon.
• 1967 - Ronald Ryan, the last person to be executed in Australia, is hanged in Pentridge Prison, Melbourne.
• 1969 - In Cairo, Yasser Arafat is appointed Palestinian Liberation Organization leader at the Palestinian National Congress.
• 1984 - Astronauts from Space Shuttle Challenger make first untethered spacewalk.
• 1988 - Iran-Contra Affair: The United States House of Representatives rejects President Ronald Reagan's request for $36.25 million to aid Nicaraguan Contras.
• 1989 - After a stroke, P.W. Botha resigns party leadership and the presidency of South Africa.
• 1997 - Sixth general elections held in Pakistan under 1973 constitution.
• 1998 - Karla Faye Tucker is executed in Texas becoming the first woman executed in the United States since 1984.
• 1998 - Cavalese cable-car disaster: a United States Military pilot causes the death of 20 people when his low-flying plane cuts the cable of a cable-car near Trento, Italy.
• 1999 - In Jammu & Kashmir the political party Democratic Janata Dal (Jammu and Kashmir) is revived.

Births

• 1338 - Jeanne de Bourbon, wife of Charles V of France (d. 1378)
• 1677 - Jan Santini Aichel, Czech architect (d. 1723)
• 1690 - Richard Rawlinson, English minister and antiquarian (d. 1755)
• 1721 - Friedrich Wilhelm von Seydlitz, Prussian general (d. 1773)
• 1754 - George Crabbe, English poet and naturalist (d. 1832)
• 1795 - Antonio José de Sucre, South Américan independence hero and Great Marshall of Ayacucho (d. 1830)
• 1809 - Felix Mendelssohn, German composer (d. 1847)
• 1811 - Horace Greeley, American journalist, editor, and publisher (d. 1872)
• 1817 - Achille Ernest Oscar Joseph Delesse, French geologist (d. 1881)
• 1821 - Elizabeth Blackwell, American physician (d. 1910)
• 1830 - Robert Arthur Talbot Gascoyne-Cecil, 3rd Marquess of Salisbury, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (d. 1903)
• 1842 - Sidney Lanier, American writer (d. 1881)
• 1859 - Hugo Junkers, German industrialist and aircraft designer (d. 1935)
• 1862 - James Clark McReynolds, U.S. Supreme Court Justice (d. 1946)
• 1874 - Gertrude Stein, American writer and patron of the arts (d. 1946)
• 1887 - Juan Negrín, Spanish Popular Front politician and Prime Minister (d. 1956)
• 1887 - Georg Trakl, Austrian poet (d. 1914)
• 1893 - Gaston Julia, French mathematician (d. 1978)
• 1894 - Norman Rockwell, American artist, illustrator (d. 1978)
• 1898 - Alvar Aalto, Finnish architect (d. 1976)
• 1899 - Lao She, Chinese writer (d. 1966)
• 1904 - Luigi Dallapiccola, Italian composer (d. 1975)
• 1904 - Pretty Boy Floyd, American gangster (d. 1934)
• 1907 - James Michener, American author (d. 1997)
• 1909 - Simone Weil, French philosopher (d. 1943)
• 1911 - Robert Earl Jones, American actor
• 1918 - Joey Bishop, American comedian and actor
• 1918 - Helen Stephens, American runner
• 1920 - Henry Heimlich, American physician
• 1925 - John Fiedler, American voice actor
• 1925 - Keith Dunstan, Australian author and journalist
• 1925 - Leon Schlumpf, member of the Swiss Federal Council
• 1926 - Shelley Berman, American comedian
• 1926 - Hans-Jochen Vogel, German politician
• 1927 - Val Doonican, Irish singer and entertainer
• 1930 - Gillian Ayres, English painter
• 1932 - Peggy Ann Garner, American actress (d. 1984)
• 1933 - Paul Sarbanes, U.S. Senator
• 1938 - Victor Buono, American actor (d. 1982)
• 1939 - Michael Cimino, American film director
• 1940 - Fran Tarkenton, American football player
• 1941 - Neil Bogart, music company executive (d. 1982)
• 1943 - Blythe Danner, American actress
• 1943 - Dennis Edwards, American singer (The Temptations)
• 1945 - Bob Griese, American football player
• 1947 - Paul Auster, American novelist
• 1947 - Dave Davies, British musician (The Kinks)
• 1947 - Melanie Safka, American singer-songwriter
• 1948 - Carlos Felipe Ximenes Belo, East Timor politician, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize
• 1948 - Henning Mankell, Swedish Author
• 1949 - Hennie Kuiper, Dutch cyclist, World Champion in 1975
• 1950 - Morgan Fairchild, American actress
• 1952 - Fred Lynn, baseball player
• 1954 - Tiger Williams, Canadian ice hockey players
• 1955 - Stephen Euin Cobb, American novelist
• 1955 - Kirsty Wark, British broadcast journalist
• 1956 - Nathan Lane, American actor
• 1956 - Lee Ranaldo, American musician (Sonic Youth)
• 1958 - N. Gregory Mankiw, American economist
• 1959 - Thomas Calabro, American actor
• 1959 - Laurence Tolhurst, British musician (The Cure)
• 1960 - Kerry Von Erich, American professional wrestler (d. 1993)
• 1961 - Keith Gordon, American actor and director
• 1965 - Maura Tierney, American actress
• 1967 - Bob Taylor, English footballer
• 1970 - Warwick Davis, British actor
• 1971 - Sarah Kane, English playwright (d. 1999)
• 1972 - Mart Poom, Estonian football player
• 1974 - Miriam Yeung, Hong Kong actress and singer
• 1974 - Elisa Donovan, American actress
• 1976 - Mathieu Dandenault, Canadian National Hockey League player
• 1976 - Isla Fisher, Australian actress
• 1976 - Dwayne Rudd, American football player
• 1977 - Daddy Yankee, Puerto-Rican reggaeton artist
• 1978 - Adrian R'Mante, Spanish immigrant actor
• 1980 - Sarah Lewitinn, American writer and DJ

Deaths

• 619 - Laurence of Canterbury, second Archbishop of Canterbury
• 699 - Saint Werburgh
• 1014 - King Sweyn I of Denmark
• 1116 - King Coloman of Hungary (b. 1070)
• 1399 - John of Gaunt, 1st Duke of Lancaster (b. 1340)
• 1428 - Ashikaga Yoshimochi, Japanese shogun (b. 1386)
• 1451 - Murad II, Ottoman Sultan (b. 1404)
• 1468 - Johannes Gutenberg, German publisher
• 1566 - George Cassander, Flemish theologian (b. 1513)
• 1619 - Henry Brooke, 8th Baron Cobham, English conspirator (b. 1564)
• 1737 - Tommaso Ceva, italien mathematician (b. 1648)
• 1802 - Pedro Rodríguez, Conde de Campomanes, Spanish statesman and writer (b. 1723)
• 1862 - Jean-Baptiste Biot, French physicist (b. 1774)
• 1889 - Belle Starr, American outlaw (b. 1848)
• 1922 - John Butler Yeats, Northern Irish artist (b. 1839)
• 1924 - Woodrow Wilson, President of the United States, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (b. 1856)
• 1935 - Hugo Junkers, German engineer (b. 1859)
• 1945 - Roland Freisler, Nazi leader (b. 1893)
• 1956 - Émile Borel, French mathematician, politician, statesman, and resistance figher (b. 1871)
• 1959 - Also known as The Day the Music Died because of the deaths of:
  • Buddy Holly, American singer (b. 1936)
  • Ritchie Valens, American singer (b. 1941)
  • J.P. "The Big Bopper" Richardson, American singer (b. 1930)
• 1960 - Fred Buscaglione, Italian singer and actor (b. 1921)
• 1964 - Sir Albert Richardson, English architect (b. 1880)
• 1967 - Joe Meek, English record producer (b. 1929)
• 1975 - Umm Kulthum, Egyptian singer (b. 1904)
• 1985 - Frank Oppenheimer, American physicist (b. 1912)
• 1989 - John Cassavetes, American actor, director, and writer (b. 1929)
• 1991 - Nancy Kulp, American actress (b. 1921)
• 1996 - Audrey Meadows, American actress (b. 1926)
• 1998 - Karla Faye Tucker, American murderer (b. 1959)
• 2000 - Richard Kleindienst, American politician (b. 1923)
• 2003 - Lana Clarkson, American actress (murdered) (b. 1962)
• 2003 - Kid Gavilan, Cuban boxer (b. 1926)
• 2005 - Corrado Cardinal Bafile, Italian Catholic cardinal (b. 1903)
• 2005 - Ernst Mayr, German-born biologist (b. 1904)
• 2005 - Zurab Zhvania, Prime Minister of Georgia (b. 1963)
• 2006 - Al Lewis, American actor (b. 1923)

Holidays and observances

• Japan - the festival of Setsubun before spring.
• Mozambique - Heroes' Day.
• United States - Four Chaplains Day.

liturgical feasts

• Saint Blaise, Catholics visit churches to have their throats blessed.
• Saint Ansgar, patron saint of Denmark
• Saint Hadelin (+690)
• Saint Werburgh
• Saints Berlindis, Celsa and Nona.

External links

• On this day in Canada
• NY Times: On this day
• BBC: On This Day

Days | Days

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